Road of Radiance
by Omegasaxon
Summary: A self-insertion story of me, and the land of Tellius. DISCONTINUED at least until further notice.
1. It's a good day to die

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, or anything thing from Fire Emblem. I also don't own Buell or George Furman for that matter.

Chapter 1: It's a good day to die

I grew up all my life being called Neil, though it isn't my first name... I just preferred going by my middle name.

I used to hate my first name. Not anymore, but still...

My name's Neil, and for some damn reason I had the bright idea to try to get up at 6 am and actually get something accomplished at this godforsaken hour in the morning. So, after clumsily getting out of bed, throwing on some random gym shorts and a muscle tee, I proceed with my 3 orders of business for the morning.

Number 1 being a LOT of freaking cold water to my face. Wash, rinse, repeat. Times 3.

Number 2, angus burgers. 2 of 'em actually. Cooked on the world-renowned George Furman grillin' machine. Yeah, burgers for breakfast. Don't judge me. At least not until you've had one, friggin' OM NOM NOM!

Errr, I need to save the freaking out for later, 6 am is just too damn early.

Third order of business... well... I didn't plan that far ahead. But hey, I'm on a roll right now, so I walk over to the sound system, kick on some power metal and start working out. Only a few days ago I started a workout program that would (hopefully) jump my base amount of pull-ups to 50 straight. Yeah. 50. Back to back. It was gonna roughly take 7 weeks. And the first 2 days were brutal. Today is no exception, I struggle to get my last pull up down on my iron gym hanging from my door. Letting my biceps rest after that, I made myself a cup of water, downed it, and proceeded to finish the push-ups and plyometrics that became a part of my daily routine.

I don't consider myself built in anyway, in fact, I think I'm relatively weak, but I was definitely well toned, the muscles I worked had some definition to them, though my 6 pack stomach was a lil lacking. Oh well, all in good time. But what really made my body work effectively was my size. Topping off (barely) at an unimpressive 5 foot 4, and clocking in at (once again, barely) 120 pounds, I didn't bother with strength. Calisthenics, that is working out with only your own body weight, was perfect for me. That was my favorite training for parkour.

Heh, I don't like to brag, but I suppose I have acquired a decent bit of talent in parkour over the past couple years... that is to say, I'm hella adept at getting from point A to point B using my body and the environment around me.

And being done with that... I plopped down in front of my computer and...

Dammit... facebook. I REALLY need to lay off it. Its a virus that eats my soul. When I next checked the clock, it read 9 o'clock.

But hey! 9 am means the weather's warming up for some bike riding! 5 minutes of switching into some motorcycle-specific Kevlar jeans, a leather jacket, steel-tipped boots, full-faced helmet, summer riding gloves... what else did I miss... oh yeah, "keys!" I said, to no one in particular. Nobody was home and all. I grabbed them off the counter and made my to the garage, locking the house door behind in case my dad gets off work before I finish riding. He runs the graveyard shift every night, it sucks. I feel pretty bad for him. Anywho, I digress, I have a motorcycle to ride.

Adding up to a massive 900cc worth of power, my stallion in the modern world is Buell's very own Firebolt XB9R. I loved it. And not only that, but it was a beautiful summer morning. Little cloud cover, mild winds, the temperature just right. Truly, a perfect day to ride!

And unfortunately, completely unbeknown to me, this was going to be my final ride. And believe me, I'm trying really hard to fit in a Ghostrider reference in here somewhere... No flaming motorcycle, horse, or rider though.

I'll skip the next 45 minutes and get to the point here, I was riding down a fun back road which was too small for a yellow median, and as I made a left turn around some trees I couldn't see around, some damn redneck's truck was making the turn swinging wide around it. And, being on a crotch rocket, I was making the turn really quick and laying the bike almost parallel to the road, because that's how you ride my bike...

Except I crash head-on into the damn truck... Fucking redneck trucks, with wheels the size of me, and the chassis lifted some 7 feet off the ground, and friggin' front bumpers made of steel and... Yeah. Needless to say, me and my beloved Firebolt got demolished.

And my death was a really quick, albeit a painful one. I was still alive while I flew through the air, and ever after I slammed onto the ground. A split second later, my bike landed and slid in front of me about 10 feet away. The sight of the bike hurt me more than the pain did... no I take that back, I was in a lot of effing pain. And then I was dead.

Author's Note: So, welcome to my first fan fiction! Oh god, I'm writing a fan fiction O_o

Initial shock aside, I thought I'd provide a few heads-up about the story I'll be writing. It's definitely a self insert with me being inserted into the Fire Emblem Path of Radiance game. I'm going to stay very loosely canon to the game, and keep myself as... me as I can... keep... me? Yeah, something like that. Not that any of y'all might know me or my personality at all. The only thing about this story me and real like me is that story me has never touched a Fire Emblem game before. And for that matter, never used Ike in SSB:B either.

Yeah, so, you'll find out where in Tellius I am in the next chapter, hope you liked the first chapter!


	2. Might have been a bad dream

Chapter 2: Might've been a bad dream

My eyes slowly opened as I came to, really disorientated. It felt like I just had a good night sleep, but something wasn't right... wasn't I riding my bike? In fact... didnt... I just crash? I... can barely remember... Sitting up and taking a few minutes to look around, I took in my surroundings. It definitely wasn't my room, or a hospital room for that matter. The room was stone, kinda what I'd expect a castle to be. It was a lot like a castly actually, the window had no glass, the door was made of wooden planks and the wooden table at the end of my bed had a wax candle burning. Beyond that, the only thing left in the room was a chest in the opposite corner from the bed, to the left of the door. After a few moments, I heard the door open as what appeared to be a maid of some sort came in. She was of average height, I'd assume a few years older than me, had a rather small dress and white apron on, her braided brown hair come down to the small of her back. Upon seeing me sitting up, she quickly gasped, mildly surprised and said, "Oh you're awake! I'll go alert a priest, please stay here, it will only take a few minutes" before hurrying out.

And sure enough, a few minutes later the maid came in with a man behind her, dressed in what appeared to be a white robe and holdin' a funny lookin' staff. He came over and directed me through seemed like some sort of physical examination.

"So, where am I?" I finally got around to asking as he waved the staff in front of me, which I thought was only a little weird.

"You are in the capitol of Crimea, the castle Melior." the maid answered for me, as the... priest, as he was called, appeared deep in thought.

Thinking on this for a few moments, I replied "Crimea huh? I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm from anywhere close to Crimea."

"Well, that explains quite a bit, your garb when we found you was of material we've never seen before, and you talk with an accent I do not quite recognize." The priest replied this time. He continued, "You appear to be in good health now. You were found washed up on the beach north of here, where nobles oft go to relax. That was 4 days ago. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you're in as good condition as you were then, no signs of drowning, though a weak pulse. No one was sure you were going to make it at first."

"Well then... um, thank you." I said, rather bewildered, but hoping it wouldn't show. I also just came to the realization that I'm cotton pants and some sort of plain t-shirt. Weird, not what I remember wearing...

"Of course," the priest replied before turning back to the maid and saying, "I will take my leave now, there are other matters that require my attention. Please fill our guest in if he has any questions, as I feel he has many." And bowing to us both, he turned and left. After the door closed behind him, the maid walked over to the chest and extracted from it what look liked the jeans, muscle tee, and leather jacket I was wearing when.. I crashed?

Wait, I crashed, on my motorcycle... in a way that prolly should have killed me... so why am I here? Or better yet how? Washed up on a beach? Ummm...

Before my mind could extrapolate from there, the maid interrupted my train of thought "These are the clothes you were wearing when you found. The material is rather exotic, the leather is nothing like we have ever seen. However, they belong to you, so we cannot wrongfully take them away." After handing me the clothes, she asked "Is there anything else you need?"

Thinking on the question for a moment, I replied "Yeah, as weird as this might sound, start from the beginning, where am I? Like, which contentinent too? And also, what's the date, time, month and year?"

Go figure, she was a little surprised by the question, "Well, Crimea is a country on Tellius. If you would like to learn more about that subject, the castle's library would be a good place to start. As for the second question, it's about 9 in the morning, Saturday, the 10th of June, as for the year, it is 685"she replied.

"I see, thank you." I replied pondering on what she just said. However, before the maid left, she informed me "This room has been graciously lent to you by the charity of a few nobles. You may have it for the rest of today, and will receive 2 meals throughout today. Unfortunetly, I must inform you that you will be required to leave tomorrow morning."

"That's fine, I'll be aware of that. One last thing, could you show me to the library, please?" I asked. She nodded and told me to follow her. Thankfully my room wasn't too far away, just down the hallway and a flight of stairs down. Thanking the servant one last time, I spent a while looking up book in the history section and indulging myself in what the book had to offer.

2 hours later, head kinda spinning, I closed the book, to get some fresh air and try and meditate on what I just learned.

As far as I know... I'm not on Earth anymore. In fact, I pretty sure I did die in that motorcycle crash. This land, Tellius, is not on Earth. In fact, this is pretty much middle ages... and much, much more. There's magic, dargons, people who can tranform into beasts of the land and sky, named laguz... Man, that's kinduva lot to take in. And its left me reeling in questions. How'd I get here? Where is here? What's... happening? And while am at it... what's my name?

Oh wait, it's Neil... Wait, hold on, time to have a proper freak out. I seriously spent more than a few seconds trying to remember what my name was... And that's not all, I've found that I'm having difficulty trying to remember what my past was like at all. Well. I'm here now. Tellius. I'd better get familiar with it, cause it feels more real to me right now than Earth does. I spent the next few hours enjoying the Castle Melior, in which I was staying. Okay, planned freak out has been delayed. Passing through a courtyard, I had my first experiences with magic firsthand. What appeared to be a student and his pupil were manipulating wind and were apparently deep in rigorous practice. I didn't know it at the time, but I would later meet the pupil again, who would introduce himself as Soren of the Greil Mercenaries.

I'm getting ahead of myself, that's very far down the road from right now. Right now, I need to figure out what I'm going to do when they kick me out the castle and I have no money, no home, no job, and barely any knowledge of where I am. As the sun continued its slow trek across the sky, I found myself in the mess hall where I ate my first meal of the day. A couple pieces of chicken, some soup and toast. Considering my situation, I was very thankful towards the chefs. While I ate, I listened to the small talk around me.

"Have you heard, word around town is Daein has started mobilizing for war recently. I don't know what they plan on doing, but I don't like this one bit."

"Oh come on man, worthless rumors between travelers and common folk. You think they have any reason to go to war with us?"

"Well, why not? We've always have had border skirmishes on where our borders lie. And our king has been trying to befriend the king of Gallia for a long time now. That's no secret. You know Daeins absolutely loathe subhu- I'm sorry, laguz."

"That's a pathetic reason to go to war, why would Daein care who we make friends with, Crimea is no threat to them, even with Gallia's support, which I doubt we could rely on anyways."

"Yeah, but still, who else would Daein want to attack? Begnion?"

I remember reading about Begnion in the history book. It was the largest nation here on Tellius and every bit Daein's equal in military prowess. The naiton also has a long-standing history as followers of the Goddess Asheara, who the entire continent of Tellius reveres and worships.

I spent the rest of day in the city outside the castle learning what I could from the streets. Melior was a real bustling place full of life. The conversation I overheard earlier between the 2 soldiers in the mess hall correlated to the rumors I heard between the cityfolk. While I had no money- though I did realize the currency of Tellius was gold- I found the many shops and restaurants and other locales of Melior to be very interesting. As the sun began to set, I made my way back into the castle and towards where I remembered my room was and along the way bumped into the maid who attended to me this morning. Stopping her, I quickly asked "If I were interested in joing the military, where would I go to sign up?"

"Well, there's a recruitment office in the office that would be glad to take you, but they're closed for the night. Perhaps tomorrow morning, after you wake up, I'll be happy to take you over there." she replied.

Before thanking her, I remembered to mention that I only had one meal today and would the second one as breakfast tomorrow. She nodded and agreed to inform the kitchen to that, and then also told me that there was a pack in my room I could put my clothes, among other things, in. Thanking her, I got to the room and found the pack on the bed, went ahead and put the clothes in it, and snuffing out the candle, decided that I could call it a day and laid down to ponder my situation. After a few minutes, sleep took over.

Author's Notes: A lotta bit slow, believe me I know, I totally want to write more action packed stuff myself, but I gotta set everything up first, I wasn't just gonna go ahead and put myself in a battle when I personally have little to now fighting experience. And since the pace is a little slow, I figured I'd upload chapters 2 and 3, and hopefully I'll have most of 4 done relatively close to each other. But... we'll see.


	3. Hooah!

Chapter 3: Hooah!

_Private Neil_

_Entry 1_

_Saturday 17th_

_June, 685_

_ I'm not one who usually keeps a journal or diary or anything, but I figured I should start doing one now. It's been a whole week since I've woken up on Tellius. Over the past week, I've managed to learn quite a bit from spending a LOT of free time in the history section of the library. Otherwise, when I'm not sleep or eating, I've been dedicated to learning the military customs of the Crimeans. I signed up for the military on the second day here. Though I'm only a peon in one of the many battalions, I follow my orders, I give respect where it's due, and I'm training everyday with my spear. Thankfully, I'm growing in the eyes of my commanding officers. While I haven't heard anything official, supposedly a General may be coming down to inspect the trainees, me and the rest of my battalion. Training lasts for another 2 months, so I wonder why a General would come now, and not later. Still, who am I to ask. Today's my first day off all week, after morning inspections of course. My bed's made, locker organized, uniform clean and I'm presentable. Bring it on Sarge._

Finishing my first diary entry, I set it in my locker along with the rest of my meager belongings and got ready for the inspection. A sergeant came in and carefully ran over all 20 of us paying close attention to detail with a very trained eye. After checking my bunk and locker, he nodded in approval and moved on.

I manage to fit easily into the "boot camp" that the military runs here in Crimea. I keep myself in good shape so I found none of the physical exercises really difficult at all. Regrettably, I've never trained in close-quarter combat before (or really any kind of combat) so I lacked behind my comrades at first when we started weapon handling. I chose a lance over the other 2 melee weapons presented to me, it fit my style, and I felt safest with it in my hands. To make up for my lack of experience, I trained hard during my free time going through all the motions and finding a partner to spar with when I could. Now that it's Saturday, I figured I since I'd have a lot of time to kill, I'd go test my luck on someone outside my battalion, and try an get back into my old workout regimen of pull-ups, push-ups and plyometrics, which I found were surprisingly harder than what I was being put through in boot camp. After we were dismissed for the day, I changed out of my uniform in lighter and more plain clothes for training, left the bunks and equipped myself with a training lance, before asking the master-at-arms if there were any people outside my battalion I could possibly train with. To my surprise, he grabbed himself a heavy looking training sword and told me he'd train with me.

"It's been a long time since I've met a soldier of your determination. Why do you train so hard?" he asked.

"Really, my skill with this spear is all I have. If I can't defend my self with this weapon, I'm practically worthless. Being a scholar or magician never appealed to me, I'm not studious by nature. And I avoid the sea and boat life, it's not really something I could get accustomed to... as for farming, I don't really have any connections in that area, usually, you're born into that or whatnot. I wasn't." I had replied.

The master-at-arms pondered my answer for a little bit before nodding and saying, "Well, don't let the military become a long time goal for you. If you really want to take it a long way, you need a sense of patriotism for Crimea, which I feel you lack."

Honestly, I was kinda waiting for someone to say this to me earlier, "I know, I wanna learn what I can from here, and hopefully, whenever I'm done with my services, it'll greatly help me elsewhere."

We spent the rest of the morning sparring, which added up to about 4 or so hours. The master-at-arms astounded me with his skill with the blade. Even though I knew he was holding back, and that spear weapons were in general superior to swords as my training taught me, I had to constantly throw my best at him if I wanted to get anywhere. At noon, we took a short break, completely worn out from training.

"Private, I'm impressed at you determination! You lack skill with the lance, but you make up for it with a resolve of steel. Tell me your name son." he boasted.

Downing my glass of water, I took a second to reply "I appreciate the complements sir, my name's Neil."

"Well met Neil, I'm Josh, and it has been a pleasure sparring with ya! Say, care for one more round before I call it quits for the day?" Josh asked.

"Course sir, whenever you're ready." I replied.

Within' minutes, both of us were back on the field, except I came to the realization that Josh switched over to a training axe instead of a sword this time. This was gonna be rough. Nodding to each other that we were ready, both of us charged each other, trying to not give the other person a chance to think. Knowing that his axe would be a lot harder to defend against compared to a sword, I pushed for the offensive, a fast left, one arm jab which was intended to force him to sidestep to my dominant side, which uncommonly was my left as Josh figured out. With the lance extended out, I swept it hard to the left keeping him a distance and giving me enough time to bring the lance back to bear and then quickly dodge to the right as he came with a mighty overhead cleave from his right down to his left. The moment I got my balance back, I used executed a two handed stab for his chest which he was forced to dodge again, this time I anticipated the dodge, but not which way he would go and delayed the second stab for a fraction of a second, giving him enough time to parry the blow and leave me wide open to his extremely quick horizontal swipe. Sliding my hands farther apart on the shaft, I manage to twist it into a parry which prove really difficult against his axe but still gave me an opening for an attack. I took it, rather wildly and he shifted his stance just enough to slip into the lance and catch me on the side with the backswing from his previous attack. It completely knocked the air out of me, forcing me to backpedal though Josh was gracious enough to give me a second to recover my balance (and I mean 1 second) before pushing his offensive, an upward swing from right to left, followed immediately by a straight down two-handed cleave. I stepped away from the upward swing and then stepped back after the down swing started hoping to catch him as his axe lodged into the ground. Unfortunately he saw that coming and in fluid motion, circled away, pulled the axe out of the ground and swung it all the way around and back to me, though it was a complete miss, made me aware of exactly how fast he could move, which was very fast. While he had spun around, I was already manuevering to face him at good distance and after he made the swing at me, I step in and swung the spear up from right to left, which he step back and to the left and I went in for a fast stab with the spear already set up from the swing. This time, instead of extending to full stab length, I kept both hands on the lance and went for a second stab as Josh set up for an attack. Score, a solid hit on his left shoulder. Not bothering to give him the same kindness he showed me after a hit, I repeated the manuever aiming more central mass. Expecting this time, he completely dodge rolled out, while I kept my offensive real heavy, turning and jabbing quickly. This time, coming out of the roll, he dodged the first one and parryed the second with the flat of the axe, once again showing off more speed and precision than I would figured he was capable of. Already pulling my lance into a defensive stance, he made a fast three swipe combo, two-handed downward cleave from left to right, a one-handed return swing in the opposite direction, and a one-handed horizontal swing from left to right. Doing my best not to backpedal, I slid to the right of each swing and nearly was grazed by the second swing. After the third one was executed, I ran straight at him lance held firmly by my side facing him, but didn't stab. Expecting him to roll or step to his right, I was thrown off pretty bad when he ducked at the last second and spun around as I ran past. Since I was on a roll with the mistakes, I immediately stop running and turned around... right into a swing that nailed me right in the chest and layed me out on the ground. Damn that hurt.

Needless to say, I was still laying on the ground wheezing pretty bad when Josh managed to return with a priest, coincidentally the same one from before who examined me. A few moments after he healed me, I got up shaking and thanked the healer- whose name I still haven't gotten yet- and as I turned to shake the master-at-arm's hand, a few guys from my battalion had came up to me and congratulated me on an awesome battle. Comments were shared on my skills and weaknesses, same with small chat on our plans today. With a collective "Hooah!" all of use went our seperate ways and I continued on with my day.

Completely worn out from sparring with the master-at-arm, I figured I didn't need to go on with too much activity for the rest of today. Walking into the a local restaurant, I grabbed a smaller table for 2 by one of the few windows and waited for a waitress to take my order when a girl, dressed in orange clothing with a sword hung loosely on her waist and blue locks of hair running down to her shoulders, practically ran up to me and start chattering a mile a minute, "Hey, you were the soldier who was going all out against Josh this morning were you? Like you both spent a bunch of hours training even though I know you have the day off and you even manage to land a hit or two on him too! That's crazy, I've heard the Josh is supposedly one of the best soliders in the military and outclasses everyone in his rank and is has only been beaten by a very few-"

"Woah, woah, woah, wait, pause, back up, do what now? Errr... I mean, yeah, that was me. And Josh was definitely holding back, I'm sure that was only a fraction of his skill." I manage to get a word in edgewise, thank god. Before she went on a talking spree, I threw a question at her, "By the way, I'm Neil, currently a private in the 19th Battalion, and you are... ?"

"Oh dang, my name is Mia, sorry for not introducing myself earlier. But I wanted to ask if you could train with me later today?" She continued at quarter note equals 255.

"Well sure, I'mma need a little bit of rest so maybe 4 this afternoon if there's a training field free?"

"Sounds good! Okay, it's decided, I'll so you then!" Mia exclaimed before hurrying off.

"Hey, Mia, wait-" I had tried to stop her but too late. Gone.

"Awww, I'm sorry, girl problems?" A waitress with the most ironic timing came over and asked me.

I had to pause for a moment before I replied, "Well... I dunno, ask me again in a few days."

Author's Note: Aight, now that I'm three chapters in, I would now like to make a request for reviews if any other user's wish to share opinions or help me out. I felt I needed to get more than just chapters 1 and 2 out there before any kind of reviews could accurately be made. That being said, I'm open to all kinds of words, so be nice if you're in a good mood, be brutally honest if you feel I need it. Bring on the flame if you have a flamethrower charge. *puts up flame shield*

I really hope to build on myself and slowly bring out emotions as the story progresses. With my current frame of mind, the story's gonna stay canon up until the group arrives in Begnion, but we'll see. So far, I'm winging everything. And greatly enjoying it.

Also, random last minute thought. I got finals coming up so chapter 4 might take a lil while yet. Until next chapter, hope y'all enjoy.


	4. Elincia Ridell Crimea

Chapter 4: Elincia Ridell Crimea

Mia and I had started sparring around 5. She was fresh and highly energetic, ready to go and train... I was still recovering from the beat-down the master-at-arms, Josh, dealt on me earlier this morning. Still, I wasn't about to let this show, I welcomed all the training time I could get. And not only that, but I had a weapon advantage over Mia's sword. But holy hell was she fast. She easily weaved in and out all of my attacks and always manage to work into and around my defenses and after an hour, I had to take a break. Sipping on some water and watching Mia take some practice swings, and felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a voice boom behind me, "At it again are ya? I swear kid, you are something else!" I had gotten up and turned around about to salute the master-at-arms whose voice I easily recognized when at the last second I saw who was behind him, and more important his rank and I quickly regained more of my composure, snapped to attention and saluted the General I didn't recognize.

"At ease, Private. I'm General Geoffrey." he said, rather informally, and held his hand out for me to shake.

"Honored to meet you sir." I replied shaking his hand. He nodded and said "Josh here was just telling me about his sparring session with you this morning. Naturally I am surprised to see ya at it again right now."

"To be honest, Mia had sought me out earlier this afternoon to train with me, but I welcome the chance to continue practicing." I explained.

"Very well then, how about you continue to spar with your partner over there as there are some pressing matters I wish to talk with the master-at-arms about." Geoffrey said.

My answer came without any hesitation "Yes sir!"

We spent what was prolly another hour or so sparring. I was adapting to Mia's speed and manage to start landing hits to. I also noted that she couldn't take hits nearly as well as I could. One of my advantages over her I guess. The entire time Mia and I went at it, I saw Josh and Geoffrey out of the corner of my eyes and most of the time they were conversing and watching us rather closely. I wasn't sure what they were looking for, but it made me want to step up my performance... as if I had sometime to prove. Eventually, our duel came to what appeared to be a draw as Mia had her sword to my throat and I was pointing the lance right in her face. We stood locked there, glaring at each other and breathing really hard before she threw me off guard with a rather random question.

"Hey, do you want to grab dinner with me sometime soon?"

I stared at her incredulously and started to slacken my grip and she nearly manage to knock the lance out of my hands, but I held on to it and parried a slash she threw at me before I replied, "Ummm, I think I'll pass, maybe next time." Throwing her off this time, I used my lance to shove her back and take a swing that missed, forcing me to dodge roll away from a stab she took at me. Catching and locking her next attack in a parry, she teased "Aw, what's wrong. A handsome guy like you doesn't want to go on a date with a pretty girl like me?" before taking her sword out of the parry and catching me in a roundhouse kick and going in for a stab. I spun away and swung my lance around but too slow and Mia ducked under and rushed up and held her sword to my throat again, ultimately ending the duel.

Accepting the defeat, and feeling my cheeks starting to turn red, I muttered, "Well, its not that, its just that... well... its kinda complicated. I don't think I'm particularly interested at the moment."

"Well, that sucks." she said. She sounded disappointed but tried not to let it show. With a smile, she said "Well, I had fun training, see ya around!" before leaving the training area.

Returning back to the 2 superiors, I heard Josh speak up "What gives kid? I had my money on you on that one!"

"I- She... she used her feminine wiles and caught me off guard." I half-lied, I think... it was true, I might've won if she didn't bring up the dinner date... but I wouldn't call that feminine wiles.

"Hahaha, well, I won't bother with that one. I believe the General here wants to have a chat with you. So, by your leave General." Josh said, saluting Geoffrey and leaving.

General Geoffrey returned it before turning to me and saying, "Private Neil was it..."

* * *

_Private First Class Neil_

_Entry 2_

_Sunday 18th_

_June, 685_

_ Yesterday, after observing my training with Mia (who asked me on a date), General Geoffrey offered me a spot in a different battalion, which would take me out of training status, and make me Private First Class. Needless to say, I accepted. Later today, there will be an info meet detailing the nature and duties of the battalion I'm been transferred to, which I understand was just created. _

_ I doubt I'll miss my old battalion, I didn't really grow close to any of them. I'm surprised I let myself get attached to Josh, who's a pretty cool guy to get along with. Really though, I decided to make it a point to not make any particularly close friends, since I don't know_

I had to put the pen down for a moment, I start to lose focus after thinking what I was going to write next. When I first woke up here, I was very confused, but I tried not to let it show. But now that more than a weeks past, I found it hard to recall memories from home. Its becoming more and more distant with each passing day here. The confusion I found, was being overpowered... by fear. Figured I might as well write that down too...

_Frankly, I'm scared. My past, my home, my friends and family, I can barely remember any of the names or any of the places. More than that, I don't want to grow attached to what I have here. In case_

I took my time writing the next few words. It was hard to wrap my mind around the idea of it...

_there's a possibility_

My eyes started to sting... what the hell...

_that I might return, home one day._

At that point my vision blurred and I tried blink back tears, but it hit me. I miss home. And more than that, I enjoy life here. I couldn't decide if I should try to live with what I have here, or hope that there was even the slightest chance I might see my friends and home and bike again.

Oh damn... the bike. Call me sentimental, but that's when I stopped fighting the tears. Well, 1 fell anyway. Landed on the page I was writing on. I wiped my eyes and kept on writing, still not finished with the journal entry.

_ I kinda wanted to take Mia up on her offer. Well, no, I really wanted to take her up on it. But I'm gonna call her out on this one and say her timing is terrible. I mean, in the middle of training, really? Couldn't you have waited until after I whipped your ass for thinking you could beat me?_

_ I'm digressing. A quick shower and a good breakfast are in order. And then I suppose I'll find out what the General has in store for me._

I threw some water on my face before suiting up in my gear sticking the journal in the nifty pouch I made inside my chest plate. I had virtually no belongings. I was wearing the muscle tee and leather jacket I appeared on Tellius with. Even though it was the beginning of summer, it really wasn't as hot as I though it would be. On top of that, I'm filipino, I'm built for heat. And most importantly, I drank insane amounts of water to compensate. Hydration kept my body temperature in check. As for the jeans, I sold them to a noble for a surprising sum of gold, which I kept in a pouch inside a pocket of the jacket. Beyond that, I had no other real valuables or anything that I held to value, except for my lance. Something bothered me though... I have no honest idea what happened to my shoes. Ah well, no biggie, they were falling apart something fierce.

Arriving at where General Geoffrey told me to be at to meet the rest of the battalion, I stepped over to a corner of the room and examined the people occupying it. There was a wide array of many different ranks and soldiers. Axe wielders, myrmidons, solders, and even their halberdier counterparts, archers and snipers as well. I took note of the lack of heavily armored infantry. I noticed the General up front engaged in a conversation with what appeared to be the only pegasus rider here. (And I freaked like hell when I saw my first pegasus. I thought magic was bad enough.) Before they finish conversing, I heard the door open and to my surprise, a myrmidon dressed in orange and thigh-high boots and flowing blue hair walked in.

"Mia?" I asked.

She turned to me, a look of equal surprise spreading across her face. "Hey handsome, wasn't expecting you to be here. I didn't think there would be any soldiers still in training status here."

"Heh, feeling's mutual. I've been promoted. I'm PFC now." I replied.

"Well congratulations! I'm not actually signed onto the armed forces. I'm a hired mercenary, Crimea's been trying to bolster their numbers recently." Mia explained, walking over to me.

"Nice" I replied. I was about to say more when a voice from the front called attention. Me and many of the soliders in the room snapped to, and I made a mental note that does who didn't were prolly more mercenaries, like Mia.

General Geoffrey addressed the room at large, "Under light of recent events, I feel this battalion has become necessary. However, what we're about to bring to everyone's attention does not, under any circumstances leave this room."

Geoffrey gave a slight pause, as if to feed on everyone's curiosity before continuing, "The person I am about to introduce to you all is Elincia Ridell Crimea. She is the daughter of our king and rightful heir to the throne. However, as all of you know, her uncle, Duke Renning, has already been named successor to the throne and, while he is aware of the princess, her life has been hush-up, mainly to avoid civil turmoil." Nodding to the pegasus knight he was talking to earlier, Geoffrey said "Bring her in."

A couple moments later, the knight returned with who had to be the fairest maiden I've ever seen. She had brilliant green hair reaching down her back, laying against her orange dress that made Mia's pale in comparison. As she reached Geoffrey, the entire battalion went down on a knee, as did the General though he was the first to rise as he addressed everyone,

"Men and women, this is Princess Elincia Ridell Crimea, rightful heir to the throne. The rulers of all the other nations are aware of her existence, and should there be a war between Crimea and any other country, Princess Elincia will become a high priority target. We must prevent this."

Geoffrey paused letting everything he just said sink in before continuing, "Most, if not all of you have heard that the armies of Daein have been mobilizing. Should they attack Crimea, it will be everyone's duty to see the princess safely to the kingdom of Gallia, where King Caineghis will protect her."

Looking at many of us in turn, Geoffrey went on, "I have hand-picked each and everyone of you in the hopes that you all will consider what is at stake here and in turn swear your blade, and your life, to Princess Crimea. Does anyone here feel that I ask too much?"

Silence. To used the cliched quote, you coulda heard a pin drop.

"Then, if all of you please rise and..."

For the next 10 or so minutes, we all sweared to secrecy, and agreed to pledge our life to Elincia. At the end, as everyone was dismissed, I caught up with Mia as she left.

"I think I'mma need some food to put all of that down with. Wanna grab some with me?" I asked, before adding "And I gotta apologize about earlier, my mind was somewhere else."

"Well, how about I eat dinner with you if you tell me about was on your mind then?" Mia offered.

I didn't answer right away, it definitely wasn't something I felt like getting into right now.

"C'mon, pweeeeaaaaasssseeeeee?" Mia pleaded, making a rather cute puppy dog face at me.

Eventually I gave in, however much I was annoyed by it, much to Mia's delight.

"Yes! Let's go, I know just the place!" Mia exclaimed, grabbing my arm.

"Nah, it's a lil early for dinner, I think. How about I work up an appetite first, I still need to beat you up for yesterday." I said, punching her in the arm.

"Psh as if you got what it takes to beat me!" She retorted.

"I do, and I'm about to lay your scrawny behind out to prove it." I countered, grinning pretty evilly.

"No way, you're so going down." she replied with more gusto than I could expect from such a petite girl. But hey, what can you expect. I'm about to beat a girl senseless and then take her out on a date. Things could be wierder.

Author's Note: Ugh, this chapter went through like 5 or 6 rewrites and hell I still ain't happy with it. Still, its 4 pages of story, so I'mma throw it up and hope for the best.

Anywho, R&R, and I'd like to give a shoutout to CartoonKing for being my first reviewer. Much appreciated.


	5. The battle of Melior

Chapter 5: The battle of Melior

Just as I had promised Mia before we started sparring, I laid her scrawny butt down more than once. I gotta admit though, she didn't make it easy for me.

Haha, I got her laid... waitwhat? Bad joke. Moving on.

A while later found us at some fancy little restaurant on the edge of town. Well, it wasn't that fancy, but I definitely liked the vibe it gave me when I walked in. I almost expected jazz music or something similar playing in the background. The lighting was dim, relying on the evening sky and small torches hanging above. The darkwood structure appealed to me. It wasn't quite something I saw in restaurants at home.

Then again, neither was the view of the castle out the main set of windows. Or the tables where knights and warriors were seated. Or a stable outside for horses, pegasi, and wyverns (which made me jump in terror first time I saw one). Or... well, you get the idea.

Mia and I had found a small secluded table in the corner of the restaurant that still offered a nice view of the castle. After a waiter came and took our order, Mia glanced over to the closest table of knights and asked me "I wonder if any of them fight with a sword..."

I chuckled at the thought, "Didn't I just finish putting you through your paces, and you're already looking for another match?"

"You're a lance wielder, and while its good that I train against you, I'm more interested in fighting myrmidons and the like." Mia replied.

"Hold on, lemme guess, you're aspiring to be the best sword fighter in the world?" I asked.

"Yeah! How did you know?" Mia said, both delighted and a little surprised.

"A guess, like I said. It's really cliched and typical, I'm trying to figure out how a cheerful girl goes around trying to play this role." I rambled.

"Where do you get off saying that's cliched and typical? You're a soldier, there are like, thousands of you!" Mia shot back at me.

"Soldier's my job, it keeps me alive, but it ain't a life goal. My aspirations... are pretty different." I said.

"Different how so?" Mia asked, surprisingly curious after literally yelling at me 2 seconds ago.

"Well... I dunno. It'd be nice to be able to go back home..." I accidentally let it slip. Dammit, now she's gonna pry and I didn't exactly feel like talking about it.

"Well, where are you from?" Mia asked... yup. Called that one, that I did.

I thought about that before replying. How do you describe Earth to anyone? As far as I knew, Earth was a completely different world from this. "Well... not Tellius for a start..." I started

"So... where?" Mia kept pushing.

"Ever heard of a place called America?" I asked this time.

"No, I haven't. Is that where you're from?"

"Sure is... that's what was on my mind earlier, I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to go back, but if I do, I'm taking it."

Mia paused for a few moments, as if she was trying to piece something together, "... You must really miss home huh?"

"Well, it has its perks, and some setbacks, it had a different set of difficulties compared to here, but... I miss it. I shouldn't, like... be here..."

"Well, why are you here then? How did you get here?" Mia asked. Unfortunately, I didn't catch that, I was trying to remember home back on Earth. Everything had slowly become fuzzier over the past week or so. Details were blurring together. My memories were harder to recall and the the ones I did remember came through foggy-

"... you okay? Hey, Neil. Hey!" Mia kept badgering me.

"Ah- oh, ahhh, sorry sorry, completely random thoughts... were completely random." I said, unsure of how to explain... well, anything at this point.

"Um, okay. You're weird." Mia said, scrunching her eyebrows at me.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I dismissed. It was true, unfortunetly.

Protip for the guys here, if a girl tells you that on the first date, nothing will work out. Ever. Period. Done. Y'all might still be good friends or whatever, but the date itself is over.

Applying my above advice to my situation, you can pretty easily map out the rest of that date. Mia started losing interest and I sat there wondering how zoning out and making (what musta sounded like) a stupid comment would 'cause that. Well... I'm a guy, I'll never know.

Anywho, the food was great and Mia was pretty cute, and generally speaking we both had a fairly pleasant time, but we went our separate ways that night... just friends. If this was back home on Earth, I'd resolve to show her a better time on a second date, but this is Tellius. I bought her dinner after tossing her around on the training field. And that's apparently normal around here...

The next morning I saw her sparring against a myrmidon who was getting a Mia-style beat-down. Poor guy just couldn't keep up. I wandered around the grounds looking Josh, whose company I've grown pretty fond of. More so than that is his skill with the blade and axe that made him an excellent sparring partner for me to train with. Yet for some reason, he was nowhere to be found. Unable to find a training buddy, I worked my way to the mess hall, got me a healthy serving of soup and a chicken breast and sat myself at the end of the table in the most remote corner of the hall, to void myself of distractions I didn't enjoy having while I ate. After sitting down, I figured it was a good time to update my journal logs since I didn't this morning.

_Private First Class Neil_

_Entry 3_

_Monday, 19th_

_June, 685_

_Date with Mia wasn't perfect, but I won't rant. I s'pose I shouldn't have zoned out that bad anyway. Ah well. One of these days, I want to do some research on the the magic here on Tellius. The need to know how I got here is a hunger that burns stronger than the sun in the sky, and I WILL find out. One day. I'm ready to accept that Tellius exists in some other kind of universe separate from my own,but I'm not ready to accept that I simply appeared here after dieing on Earth. Magic exists here, so that's a good place to start._

_I have not been_

I pretty much stopped that entry right then and there when I heard a frightening scream tear through the air. I jammed the journal into my armor, grabbed my iron lance and ran outside. Large shadows streamed by and I looked up to my absolute horror. Immensely large, what look like pterodactyls were flying over head. Scrambling my mind for a second, I realized these were wyvern riders. Wyverns and their riders in jet black armor and launching spears, javelins, hand axes and tomahawks to Crimean troops all on the ground. I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't bring myself to move, I stood rooted to my spot by fear, watching the scene play out before me.

Mayhem was rampant, all hell was breaking loose. Screams and yells of pain, distress all echoed through the castle, but I stood in my spot, still unmoving. It took a a javelin to nearly impale me through the shoulder to finally snap back to. It sliced through my light shoulder plate and left a deep gash in my right arm. Ouch, bitch, ffffuuuuuu.

Taking off before the rider could spin around for another go at me, I sprinted through the courtyard, trying to figure out where the hell the princess and her guard was. From the barracks, there was the courtyard I just got through, which leads into the armory. Some soldiers were finishing gearing up and rushing out into the training fields. I saw that several wyvern riders, who were carrying more troops in black armor had touched down and were in a heated battle with Crimean guards.

My heart sank as I saw the guards were being cut down like chop suey. The system was going down... System of a Down. Chop Suey. Really? Is that REALLY going through my head right now? Aff. I swear my mind could drive me crazy. Back to the topic at hand.

Taking the other exit leading to another courtyard which lead to the castle entrance, I saw more wyvern riders in a heated battle with the strongest guards out front. These guys were much better off, and keeping a solid fight against the enemy. I charged forward and caught the first wyvern rider I reach off guard, running my lance right through him. The guard he was fighting immediately turned to fight the rider to his right. I turned to his left (my right) and engaged with the rider there. I watched him parry a blow from the guard before the wyvern itself slammed the guard down and the rider finished the job.

I flinched hard, the death and gore was something I wasn't used to. And that guard was much more powerful than me. I could tell the rider was just as strong, if not better, than the guard. He turned to me.

I took one last moment to steel my nerves and charged the rider. I was holding the lance in my right hand, but switch it to my left hand at the last second and drove it into the wyvern's neck, who died screaming loudly. The rider wasted no time hopping off and bringing his steel ax over his head for a cleave, but I stepped back just in time. Unfortunately, that was a mistake since backpedaling simply gives the enemy another opportunity to attack and he swung it up from the ground and it cleaved into my side. I couldn't help, I screamed in pain, the training sessions had nothing on an actual ax eating into your side. I sank to a knee, tears blinding my vision, but I saw well enough the soldier raise his ax for a final blow.

"Die Crimean scum!" he bellowed.

I responded with the first thing that came to my head. "No you." I was NOT ready to die. Not in this world.

Against the pain and all my nerves screaming in protest, I launched from the ground and impaled the rider straight through his neck, where he wore no neck protection. Blood sprayed everywhere and I retched immediately after seeing that. But I wasn't in any immediate danger, the other wyvern riders had been dispatched by the guards.

One came over to me and handed me a vulnerary. Wasting no time, I downed it immediately and felt the pain subside enormously.

"T-Thank you." I gasped.

He simply nodded in reply but before he turned around I managed to ask "General Geoffrey, where might I find him?"

"The mess hall. Hurry, more Daein troops are coming."

I stole a glance back and saw more wyvern riders carrying more foot soldiers flying in. I ran through the doors fast I could, but with a slight limp now. The cut was still there. Turning to the hallway that lead into the mess hall, I ran straight in and saw that many of the soldiers were already formed up and ready. Not really sure of formation since I was only assigned to it yesterday, I ran to a gap and took attention. The General had saw me and galloped over (He was on a horse... in the castle. Serious matter is serious) asking what had happened. I gave him a fast update of what was happening at the front door. I saw a flash of surprise cross his face before he steeled his face and thanked me, before addressing the room at large.

"We have no time, I'll lead the my troops to help fortify the front doors. This will buy the rest of you guarding the princess enough time to get out through the back, Kieran will lead the way. My final orders to all of you are to make sure Princess Elincia makes it safely to Gallia, where she will be safe. Remember your oaths." General Geoffrey stated.

"Sir yes sir!" came the collective reply.

Nodding, the General rode to the door, before saying his last words to us. "Strength and honor."

Wait... that sounds familiar...

Whatever, I have a mission.

As the group I was in (which consisted over roughly 20 soldiers, and 20 cavalry with the Princess carried by a well decorated Paladin) traveled to the basement, I examined everyone. A good majority of the soldiers were high ranked and very powerful. These guys were I elite I realize, but not everyone. Me along with a couple archers and, funnily enough, Mia were all fairly inexperienced compared to them. The cavalry was half paladins and half horsemen. In a matter of moment we reached the basement where a secret passage on the wall and out the back of the castle was open for us.

I could hear the battle echoing through the hallways of the castle, metal clashing and screams were catching up to us fast. The enemy army was moving unbelievably fast. We had to move faster.

After everyone got in, it was shut by one of the soldiers and we moved on, and out. The tunnel was much longer and dark than I expected, but wide and tall enough for the cavalry to ride through single file. The tunnel was mainly stone, but the ground was packed dirt. After about 10 minutes, we hit what appeared to be a dead end, except one of the soldiers in front open the end as if it were a door. No wait, definitely door, made of ground. Glancing back as I exited, I realized it was the side of a rather steep hill.

"That's pretty impressive." I said to no one in particular.

"It is. All the major castles of Crimea have elaborate escape routes that people can use in times of need. Pretty much the same can be said for most any castle though." said a voice behind me. I turned to see a horseman in red armor monitoring the troops as they exited.

"I suppose its necessary." I muttered. He glanced at me before riding towards the paladin with the princess.

I looked down the road ahead. Here I am, in a world I don't belong, with no idea how I ended up here, having for the first time in my life killed a man, and apparently ready to give my life up for this princess, who isn't even known about to the general public. But if I'm lucky enough to not die in the process, we'll be taking her to a country run by people who can shift into tigers and cats, designed to kill. I looked to the sky before saying a silent prayer, basically begging for help, to whatever deity is believed in here before looking back down the road. I kept my face stoic, and my troubles to myself. It was the one thing, after all, that I've been practicing my whole life.

For better or for worse, I think I started to believe I was stuck here on Tellius. This wasn't some dream, or anything close. A man's life, I had taken today. I couldn't be as careless as I have been during my time here, and certainly not as careless as I was on Earth. If one day I find myself back on Earth, then so be it. But I'm on Tellius now...

And it's about time I accepted that.

Author's Note: Uhhhhhh... Blah. I think that's my current frame of mind right now. I plan on spending today in between my random chores and stuff to organize the basic plot of this story, 'cause winging it isn't going to work for long.

Please review if you have constructive criticism for me, I will GREATLY appreciate it.

Also, cookie for you if you catch the really small Kenshin reference and better yet, the Gladiator one. Hopefully I can start to work on my character as the story progresses, but well...

Bllllaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. See y'all at chapter 6.

(And I really am sorry for the LONG ASS time difference b/w chapters 4 and 5. Really, I am!)


	6. Bloody Ambush

Chapter 6: Bloody Ambush

_Private First Class Neil_

_Entry 4_

_Tuesday, 20th_

_June, 685_

_So, yesterday. Crimea's neighboring country, Daein laid siege to and took control of the capitol of Crimea, Melior. I did not participate too much in the battle there, just enough to make my way to General Geoffrey. Our orders were clear: Princess Elincia needs safe passage to Gallia, where she will meet with the King there._

_This garnered a lot of resentment from some troops, but no one voiced anything on it. I'm slowly piecing things together here. People like me, who are normal humans, we're the beorc. This kingdom of Gallia is run by laguz, changelings who, while human, are able to transform into a variety of beasts._

_And the result of all this, a LOT of prejudice between the laguz and beorc. I know not what is the cause of the hatred here, but I don't plan to get caught in any of it. If anything is well known of the laguz, they are fearsome in battle._

_We spent most of today getting as far away from Melior as possible, but we're in hot pursuit. The lead paladin who is carrying the Princess has split the guard into 2 groups, his group which is a bare minimum crew of himself, the Princess, a myrmidon who I hear is absolutely deadly fast (and is described as a swordmaster by Mia), a spear man who is much more decorated than me and generally a better fighter than me (and I've also learned a spear man of his skill has earned the title of Halberdier), and 2 mounted units, one who specializes in bows and the other a swords woman who can heal people. _

_Sidenote: I was taught in boot camp that all mounted units are seperated based on how they fight. Mounted Axe, Sword, Bow and Lance users, all called Paladins once they have proven themselves thoroughly in battle. Certain Mounted Swords are also skilled in the healing arts and are titled Valkyries. Airborne units follow a slightly similar system._

_I have personally been assigned to a Mounted Axe, Kieran, who is the leader of the 5th Platoon. It's our duty to scout the area south of the Princess's group as they ride. Right now, however, everyone is resting, hence the journal update. This may be my last one for a while. While I have heard nothing official, I feel as though we're losing ground to our pursuers._

After writing down the last paragraph, I skimmed back through, completely impressed with how much I wrote this time. It took up 2 pages in the journal... or diary... whatevs. But as I was saying, 2 pages and easily my longest entry to date. It was the kind of detail I wanted to write with, as I had resolved to do so after rereading my older entries.

Shutting the book and putting it in the pocket inside my armor, I started suiting up and going through some quick dynamic stretches to limber up. I glanced around at the 5th Platoon before me. We were rather small, but considering we split up about 40 people into 4 groups, we kinda have to be. Kieran was already up and swinging his axe around for some practice. His determination actually made mine pale in comparison, and his patriotism was a hundredfold mine.

Funny, I still wonder why Geoffrey chose me to be part of the guard. I wasn't the most skilled, and definitely not the most patriotic, but I didn't question the general's belief that I had a chance in it. I definitely hope he survived the battle at Melior, 'cause I really want to know why he chose me.

I digress; 5th Platoon. Aside from Kieran, Mia was also suiting up. Me and her haven't had a chance to chat since departing from the castle, but every once in a while, we'd trade glances and she would smile warmly at me.

The rest of the platoon were faces I didn't recognize but, I could tell they were not new to battle though the ranks of everyone suggested they haven't been in service but for so long. And then Mia, who was actually a mercenary... huh, why was she picked? Man, Geoffrey didn't put together an honor guard as much as he did a ragtag group of people who could fight.

"Something on your mind?" I heard a voice say to me. It was Mia. Oh hi Mia. Wait... actually say it to her dumbass.

"Oh hi Mia. And not too much, just spacing out." I replied.

"Don't space out too much, we have an important job on our hands, we can't let the Princess down." Mia told me. "But it's good that none of it is getting to you."

"Yeah, I s'pose. You seem to be rather calm and collected, compared to your normal hyperactivity."

"I've been thinking too. Crimea has been my home. I'd always help protect villages and towns in trouble from bandits, but to have another nation bring war. It's just so... drastic and different."

"That it is."

At that point, Kieran announced to the group at large. "Alright everyone, pick a partner fast and spread out and check the area. Once we have an all clear, start moving west. Stay within ear shot of another group, but stay out of sight as best you can."

With those orders, I look at Mia and asked "Well, shall we?"

She grabbed her sword leaning on a tree and together, we made our way through the trees heading as south as we could, and at about 500 paces, I whistled the all clear signal after Mia nodded to me that she didn't find anything.

After hearing 2 other whistles (which was the only other 2 groups besides Kieran's) we made our way quickly to the west, eyes scanning as much as possible and ears perked for any noise we weren't making. It is was easy going for about an hour. Then it happened.

My ears picked up on a whistling and without waiting to figure out what it was, dived to the left. And not a moment too soon as an arrow came whistling right through where my face was a second ago.

Registering the situation fast enough, Mia yelled "CONTACT! Enemy contact to the west!" before taking cover behind a large oak tree.

I was lucky enough to dive into a few bushes. Using them to conceal myself, I quickly pulled out my lance and crawled towards the nearest tree.

I hope the other groups could hear our warning. It would get relayed to Kieran who would warn the Princess's guard and from there... well, I guess they would immediately take off away from the enemy while moving as west towards Gallia as possible.

However, while that was happening, it would up to me and Mia (and if we were lucky enough, whoever could find us in time) to draw the groups attention away from the princess's group which would mean we would have to use guerrilla tactics to draw the enemy east and probably south as well. If at all possible, rout the enemy.

I originally did not see that happening.

What I did see now were 2 enemy archers and a soldier like me, except all black armor. I also saw the archers let fly 2 more arrows at us before I quickly pulled my head back behind the tree.

"Must be a scouting group, like us." Mia said to me, as if she were reading my thoughts.

"Yeah, I think we can take them, I'll go for the soldier, if you can take one of the archers. Keep an eye on that other one."

Mia nodded and after we heard another couple of arrows smack into the trees we were covering behind, both of us jumped from behind the cover and took off towards the enemy group.

"Dammit" I cursed as I quickly realized the archers would have another shot at us before we could reach them. Worse than that, I saw both the archers aiming at me as the soldier ran out to meet Mia. In my peripheral vision, I saw them trade blows before they fell outside my sight.

The archers both fired simultaneously at me, and instead of trying to dodge left or right, I rolled forward and under the arrows, coming out lance swinging wildly. The archer closer to me got swiped on his thigh and fell to one knee. I hesitated for a split-second before I ran the lance through his center mass. Immediately after I did, I felt like retching again but manage to hold it this time. Kill now, get sick later.

Unfortunately, that hesitation gave the other archer enough to time take a couple steps back and let loose another arrow at me. It pierced my light armor covering my torso and sunk into my stomach almost half a foot.

"FUCK! OW, OW OW OW." I yelled, but somehow, I charged the archer and drove my lance through his chest, dead center. A perfectly aimed stab, despite my body shaking violently from pain, and tears blinding my vision. Oh irony. How've you been good buddy?

I didn't even notice the second archer die, but I wasn't in too much pain to hear Mia's yell of pain. Turning to their battle, I saw that Mia had been swiped on her sword arm but miraculously held onto the blade. The soldier himself seemed to have several wounds in the openings of his armor and was fatigued enough to not be land a second blow on Mia

Or at least, enough to not a land a second blow before I stabbed him through the back of a knee- sinking that knee to the ground- grabbed his helmet, and pulled it back to let Mia slash at his throat.

For the next couple of minutes we didn't say anything to each other while we addressed our injuries. I didn't pack a vulnerary while I at Melior, though I wish I had now as I broke the shaft of the arrow sticking out of me, flinching and cursing vehemently the entire time.

"Here, use the rest of this." I heard Mia say to me and, looking up, I saw she was offering the rest of her vulnerary to me.

"Thanks a bunch." I said as I applied it to my wounds the way boot camp had taught me to. For a split second, it stung- causing me to continue cursing- before the pain subsided a little bit and the wound stopped bleeding, even after I got the arrowhead out.

"Not use to pain are you?" Mia asked me as I quickly disabled the 2 bows the archers were using while she sliced through the supply of arrows.

Since we were being chased, the enemy didn't need to have the extra supplies, and we weren't really able to use them.

"Not really, no. My tolerance is sadly absolute crap." I replied while grabbing the soldier's steel lance and strapping it to my back.

Wasting no time, we hurried on west. While he may have been separated from the rest of the guard, we knew where to rendezvous at days end. There were predetermined locations explained to us earlier yesterday where we could meet up in case of conflict, and an informant would show us where to go.

As we made fast time towards the next town (where, on the outskirts, was the rendezvous location), Mia told me,

"As bad as this sounds, you're pain tolerance will get better as you deal with it more."

I couldn't help but chuckle to that as I replied "Yeah, there's something bittersweet to look forward to."

"Don't worry, you keep training with me and I'll toughen you up." Mia said actually laughing now.

"That's if you can match me. I thought I had beaten you last time we sparred?"

"Nuh uh, I was holding back after our first match when I beat you!"

Oh is that your excuse? Or is that a challenge? Either way, I am not going to stood up like this, not by Mia. "Well, I think you just earned yourself a rematch missy. No holds bar next time, when we arrive in Gallia."

"You're totally on, and so going down!" Mia said to me.

I didn't exactly have a retort ready, but it wasn't quite needed at this point. The both of us cam out into a small clearing as a shadow passed overhead. Wyvern riders had been flying directly behind and we had no idea because of the trees and our conversation.

Five wyvern riders flew past us before circling around and touching ground to face us. I part of me hoped that me and Mia could beat them, but... well... a saying I had remembered from home: Hope drives people into the worst of corners.

And with that thought in mind, I actually noticed the riders. They weren't like the wyvern riders that laid siege to the capitol. The wyverns were heavily armored; the riders were more so. And each one was armed with a silver axe or a silver lance ready to take us down.

"Crimean soliders, throw your weapons down and surrender, or face death." The lead wyvern, who wielded a wicked looking blue axe, called to us.

"Ummmm... Mia... I don't think I arrived here on Tellius ready to die only a couple weeks later. Both of us are injured, and I would go so far as to say clearly outmatched." I told Mia, my voice as straight and firm as I could hold it. I still wasn't use to this real fear of death, it was a confidence shattering, mind blowing fear that I've never had to deal with before, and, well... I wasn't ready to die here.

"You're right... there's no way we can win this." Mia replied reluctantly before tossing her sword down in front of her. I tossed away both of my lances I had with me. The Daein riders must have not expected us to surrender so easily as some of them looked surprised. But before they reacted to anything, cavalry in more of Daein's black armor rode into the clearing. The obvious leader of the group was a female, who was armored from shoulder to foot in black and gold armor and wielded a red lance. So... why was it red? Is that s'posed to make it stronger or something?

(Yes, yes it is, but I wouldn't actually learn that for awhile yet)

"Haar, what is this? Your orders were to find the group escorting the Princess, NOT a couple ragtag scouts!" The lead Paladin called out to the lead wyvern rider.

"My sources indicate these two were a scouting party for the main group with the Princess. I have scouts out surveying the area as the guard cannot be too far away."

"Hmph." Was all the female Paladin said before a lone wyvern rider in bright pink armor flew in from the west and yelled before ever making to ground, "Commander Haar, sir! A well armored group of soldiers with someone fitting the description of the Princess was spotted about a mile due west from here! Troops are moving in to engage now!"

Shit, I thought. Not good.

It was the female Paladin who spoke again, "Well Haar, looks like you manage to be a slight help to us after all. Your orders are to get these 2-" she pointed to us as she said this, "-out of here to a prison camp. I will personally be overseeing the capture of the Princess." And with that, she took off west through the woods, the rest of the cavalry right behind her.

The one called Commander Haar looked us over quickly before turning to his crew and saying, "We're scheduled for Port Toha in one weeks time, orders from the top. So let's take these prisoners to a camp close to there, maybe near Gallia if we have to."

And with that, the chick in the ridiculous pink armor flew over and bind my arms behind my back with some rope and was surprisingly strong enough to pick me up and toss me over the wyvern's back. If I wasn't scared shitless right now, I'd crack a kinky joke somewhere in the recesses of my mind.

But actually, I'm freaking out right now, 'cause me and Mia could've possibly been killed right then, and we definitely let the Princess down... that's a sinking guilt if I've ever felt one.

And well, there's the whole both of us are POWs now, to a nation which mercilessly ravaged a country with no declaration or even need to. As far as I can understand, Daein had no legitimate reason to invade Crimea...

Yet here they are. If there's one thing that cannot be as clear as possible is the fear and the pure terror that Daein successful instilled into me at this point. At home, near death experiences, while definitely scary, absolutely paled in comparison to what I was going through now.

But yeah. Crazy shit is going down. At some point in time, I realized the wyvern I was on was moving around and before I figure out why, it bucked and the pressure nearly knocked the air out of me as I realized we had taken flight. I was able to move my head around enough to actually have quite a view.

Despite the aforementioned crazy shit going down, moments like these still manage to get to me. On Earth, I only remember traveling by plane once about a year or so ago. The memory was hazy, but I remember it enough of it.

Flying on a wyvern was much MUCH cooler by any standards.

Even if those standards involved being a prisoner in a war. The view, the rush of air, the very feeling of it... man, it felt pretty good. Almost like riding a motorcycle...

Still... sucks to be a prisoner of war.

Author's Note: Yay long chapter. I actually manage to write in 3 sittings in between playing a ridonculous amount of Maplestory. Crazy stuff. I wanted to fit a bit more in there, but my brain is fried and I feel this is good enough for now. I'm really sorry for whatever typos crop up here and there. I do my best when I proofread, but sometimes I still miss stuff and things.

And I really want to go back and rewrite the first few chapters, I'm not really happy with them at all after reading them. None of the detail I strive for is there, and I feel like I skipped over so much. I dunno, hopefully I'll find time for it. I will see this through to the end, but dang if this isn't time consuming to hell and back.

Review if you'd like, and hope you enjoyed the chapter. I plan on getting this much and even much more detail in every time I sit down, and any constructive advice is much obliged.

After thought: I have NO military experience and very minimal understanding, so if you happen to read this and think something like "This is not how the military works" or something very vaguely resembling that... bear with me. Or leave a review pointing things out and offer a different approach! Please and thank you.

So, until chapter 7... strength and honor. (Gladiator reference from the last chapter d= )


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